How 4-H develops youngsters into citizens

Thursday

Sep 26, 2013 at 3:15 AM

Rochester Police Department is putting texting drivers in its prosecutorial crosshairs and may well be the subject of our next edition’s editorial, but this week, we would be remiss if we did not comment on the Page 1 story concerning three young 4-H girls from Milton and Wakefield.

In brief, these youngsters were planning to enter their chickens into the poultry section of this year’s Rochester Fair, and, in line with New Hampshire’s requirements, had their 28 birds checked by the state vet in early August for two diseases, pullorum and avian flu. The chickens passed muster but the vet, on a hunch, suggested a third, non-obligatory, test for a respiratory condition called mysoplasmosis caused by either MS or MG, to use the medical shortenings.

When the chickens’ blood samples were tested for this third disease, which is highly infectious and devastating to poultry, some of the birds tested positive, which apparently means that all the other birds are carriers.

Thus two decisions had to be made by the girls, the first being not to take the chickens to the fair and potentially infect other chickens in neighboring cages. The second decision was tough for the youngsters — whether or not to euthanize all their birds, sanitize the coop and start all over again. Compounding the difficulty of this decision was the fact that the girls have pet birds among the flock, all of which they raised from chicks. Everyone can surely appreciate the sadness the girls experienced, when deciding that all the birds infected by, or carrying, mysoplasmosis, have to go.

We echo the praise of 4-H County Coordinator Jillian Hall for “the honesty, integrity and advocacy” displayed by the Caswell, Huckins and Galarneau families.

The Rochester Times has always been a strong supporter of the 4-H movement, and difficult situations like this, show how its young members — again in Hall’s words — "become active, thoughtful and engaged citizens.”

Certainly the three girls, with family support, will have to endure saying goodbye to their pets at the end of this coming winter, and start raising new birds, but the story doesn’t end there. There is Hall’s “advocacy” remark to explain.

It seems quite possible that the girls’ flock may have become infected by being in near contact with other domestic chickens whose owners may have had no inkling their birds were impacted. On the other hand, it may also have come from wild birds such as finches.

Thus, we think it commendable that the 4-H girls are considering lobbying for a change in state law to make testing for mysoplasmosis compulsory, just like the other two tests required before birds can be shown in public places. The reason that the mysoplasmosis test is not already required may be because this disease does not affect humans, either through meat or egg consumption — at least, not yet.

According to the Center for Food Security and Public Health at Iowa State University, “this organism has been eradicated from most commercial chicken and turkey breeding flocks in the United States; however, it remains endemic in many other poultry operations.”

One current disincentive to having New Hampshire’s domestic birds tested, though, is the going rate of $2 per chicken, even though the same blood sample taken for the other compulsory tests are used. We do not know if lowering this price is economically feasible, but if it could be, any proposed legislation would gather more support.

Meanwhile, we wish the girls well in their lobbying efforts, knowing that it will broaden their experience as good citizens, and bring them in contact with some thoughtful state legislators — their own John Mullen being a fine community-minded example.